The aim of forest bathing, Choukas-Bradley explained, is to slow down and become immersed in the natural environment. She helped us tune in to the smells, textures, tastes and sights of the forest. We took in our surroundings by using all our senses.

Click here to read and hear how forest bathing therapy is a stress-reduction strategy, as heard on NPR's
Morning Edition by Allison Aubrey.

Photo courtesy of Judy Licht

Melanie Choukas-BradleyWe talk to the author of
THE JOY OF FOREST BATHING

Feeling Stressed In The City?
Go Bathe In A Forest.
(It’s Not What You Think)

The Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls
National Park. EHPIEN / FLICKR

Wed., Oct. 17, 2018, 12pm
WAMU 88.5

While “forest bathing” is a relatively new movement in the United States, the Japanese practice of immersing oneself in nature has long been valued in many communities. It’s becoming more popular in the Washington, D.C. region, which has many green spaces despite its urban density.

From wellness trends to longstanding traditions, we’ll talk about our connection to nature, our favorite hikes, trails and parks, and the challenges to outdoor accessibility.

GuestsMelanie Choukas-Bradley, Author, "The Joy of Forest Bathing: Reconnect with Wild Places & Rejuvenate Your Life;" "City of Trees" and "A Year in Rock Creek Park;" Naturalist with the Audubon Naturalist Society and Smithsonian Associates, along with other organizations.

Dennis Chestnut, Founder and former Executive Director of Groundwork DC

In this episode of American Voices, Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a certified “forest bathing” guide. Plus, we'll hear from the owner of The Book Barn. It's a bookstore with cats and goats running around, and they offer you coffee and cookies! Then, author Karen Salmansohn on her favorite place in America. She's the author of the book "Life is Long!: 50 + Ways to Help You Live a Little Bit Closer to Forever." Amazon link:https://amzn.to/2LpLS3t

Shinrin-yoku 101:
Forest Bathing for Wellbeing

"Interest in Shinrin-yoku is now gaining in popularity in the United States as a way to reconnect with nature for health and many other benefits," says Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a forest therapy guide certified with the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy (ANFT), who shares some advice inthis piece from the Travel Channel’s Steve Larese.

Into the Woods

Chevy Chase’s Melanie Choukas-Bradley is teaching people
the art of forest bathing

The flute song of the wood thrush—ee-oh-lay, ee-oh-lay—echoes through Rock Creek Park. It is a morning in mid-May: high spring. The forest canopy is rain-soaked, which seems to magnify every sound.

Melanie Choukas-Bradley, author and naturalist, invites the nine women and one man who have followed her into the woods to close their eyes, listen and breathe deeply.

“Really take the air in and let your belly rise,” Choukas-Bradley, 66, says softly. “Keep your eyes closed. Listen to the creek. Listen to the birds. Just feel how wonderful it is to be sitting here together for a few silent moments.

“Now,” she says, “open your eyes and pretend that you are seeing the world for the very first time.”

One of the people gathered is surprised to find that when she opens her eyes they are wet with tears.

Where To Find The Most Unusual Trees In D.C.

“Washington, D.C.’s trees are botanically diverse,” Melanie Choukas-Bradley, author of City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, and The Joy of Forest Bathing, tells DCist via email. City of Trees is a comprehensive field guide to our city’s urban canopy and claims there are more than 300 species overall in our city from many different climates and countries. “Northern and southern species overlap in the Washington region and so do trees native to the piedmont and coastal plain.”

5 Things to Do This Weekend: June 28-June 30, 2019

Start off with a forest bath, then listen to an Ideas Fest talk, demo bikes at Snowmass, and catch two concerts.

Nature Catches on in 'The Joy of Forest Bathing'

Melanie Choukas-Bradley is, for the first time, part of a trend.

"I write about nature, so sometimes my books are a little esoteric; you need to really love nature to enjoy them," said the naturalist and author of "The Joy of Forest Bathing — Reconnect with Wild Places and Rejuvenate Your Life... But it's really pretty exciting that people all around the world, you know, are just spending quiet time in nature. It really has just caught on."

Read the full front page story from the May 8th issue of the Brattleboro, VT daily paper here.

Forest Bathing
Walking through Nature with Melanie Choukas-Bradley

Everywhere you turn these days
there are articles, podcasts and advertisements about forest bathing.
It is the biggest nature trend since
the invention of backpacks.

Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a Washington, DC author and naturalist who leads field trips and tree tours for the Audubon Naturalist Society, the United States Botanic Garden, Smithsonian Associates, the Maryland Native Plant Society, the Rock Creek Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, Casey Trees, Politics & Prose and other organizations. Melanie’s newest book, The Joy of Forest Bathing—Reconnect With Wild Places & Rejuvenate Your Life, was released on August 28, 2018 and is already in its third printing. Amos Clifford, Founder of the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy Guides & Programs wrote: "Reading the The Joy of Forest Bathing works a bit of magic: I feel the presence of the forest and of the peace of the wild things who live there. Melanie Choukas-Bradley has given us more than a how-to book; she also inspires us with gentle guidance and her own joy, which illuminates every page. This book is a true delight that should be on the shelf of every nature lover." Dr. Robert Zarr, Founder of Park RX America, wrote this review: “The Joy of Forest Bathing brilliantly melds Melanie Choukas-Bradley’s naturalist detail and her innate and learned observational skills of all that surrounds her. I love that she can’t help but share her fascination with budbreak. I love how she reminds us to engage our senses, and to unplug, unwind, and indulge. Melanie makes the act of forest bathing accessible to us all, regardless of age or ability. Bravo!"

Melanie is the author of the award-winning book, A Year in Rock Creek Park: The Wild, Wooded Heart of Washington, DC, with photographs by Susan Austin Roth. The book was published in two editions in the fall of 2014 by George F. Thompson Publishing. The softcover edition is distributed by the University of Virginia Press.

Melanie is the author of three other critically acclaimed books: City of Trees: The Complete Field Guide to the Trees of Washington, DC, illustrated by Polly Alexander and now in its third edition (2008), An Illustrated Guide to Eastern Woodland Wildflowers and Trees: 350 Plants Observed at Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland, illustrated by Tina Thieme Brown (2004, 2007), and Sugarloaf: The Mountain’s History, Geology, and Natural Lore, illustrated by Tina Thieme Brown (2003), all published by the University of Virginia Press.

Melanie with forest therapy guides Akira and Kouriki in the Japanese Alps, October 2017

Melanie is also a long-time contributor to The Washington Post and other publications, and she has appeared as an author and guest expert on NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, The Diane Rehm Show, and WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show. In 2014, Melanie was awarded one of four inaugural “Canopy Awards” by Casey Trees, for her efforts to educate people about the trees of Washington, DC. Melanie is a Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide (Association of Nature & Forest Therapy Guides and Programs, Santa Rosa, CA). She is on the Advisory Board of Capital Nature and the Advisory Committee of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance.

"President Obama and family should get to know the beautiful park near their
new home in Kalorama. If he needs a tour guide, there are eager
Politics & Prose staffers happy to be of service!"

In 2017, Resolve to Appreciate D.C. Better

... get outside more.

Be one with the trees
"Thanks to its temperate clime and international citizenry, D.C. is home to about 350 species of trees from around the world, and naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley is friends with them all."

The woods are lovely, dark
and deep — perfect for forest
bathers searching for a
little peace of mind.

Read about Melanie's forest bathing walk in Rock Creek Park in the summer issue of National Parks magazine here.

Into The Woods

Want to go forest bathing?” asked a friend during a recent walk filled with the usual chitchat about kids, travel and politics. Since she’s been to an ashram and dabbles in assorted woo-woo experiences (don’t ask about our Akashic Records session), thoughts of taking a bath in the woods au natural while chanting “ohm” went through my mind, and I wanted no part of it.

Sensing my hesitation, she divulged that it has nothing to do with a bar of soap but everything to do with being immersed in nature to soak up the proven health benefits. It isn’t a hike. It isn’t a jog. It’s all about walking slowly, silently, stopping frequently to focus on the sights, smells and sounds of the outdoors sans cellphones or Fitbits.

Blossoms Off The Beaten Path: Where To See The Region’s Flowering Bounty

Melanie was Kojo's guest on
Thursday, March 29, 2018
WAMU 88.5 FM

In the nation’s capital, there’s nothing more synonymous with the arrival of spring than cherry blossoms. But is it really necessary to battle crowds at the Tidal Basin during the official Cherry Blossom Festival? We look beyond the usual spots to see the delicate blooms, and take some time to appreciate the less famous flowering trees among us.

Best of D.C. 2018: What Express editors picked
as their favorite things in Washington

Bomboland Illustration (For Express)

One of the great things about D.C. is that everyone ends up here for different reasons...That’s part of what makes the annual "Best of D.C." issue so fascinating: much like D.C. itself, it’s always changing. This year the "Best new way to chill out" is all about forest bathing!
Read more here about the benefits and delights of forest bathing experienced by Sadie Dingfelder. (Scroll down to read about forest bathing.)